From the Bronze Age to A.D. 500 - The Ancient Eras

Events in Ancient History | From the Bronze Age to A.D. 500 - The Ancient Eras

This is a very basic 4-millennium timeline to show which civilizations existed at the same time in the Greco-Roman world, the Ancient Near East (includes Egypt and areas now thought of as the Middle East), the Indian subcontinent, and China. This corresponds with the Mediterranean-centered area called the Known World, as opposed to the New World, which includes the modern U.S.

For major events during these millennia, see Major Events in Ancient History.

Neolithic Period --> Bronze Age --> Iron Age

1. BRONZE AGE: 3500 B.C. - A.D. 1500

   With the beginning of writing came the first period considered historical. This was still a very ancient period, part of the Bronze Age, and before the time when the Trojan War, if it happened, would have taken place.

   • WRITING BEGINS:

     - Mesopotamia
     - Egypt
     - Indus Valley (Harappa)
     - Shang Dynasty in China.

   • PYRAMID BUILDING (Egypt)

2. 1500-1000 B.C.

   This was the period when, if the Trojan War is real, it probably happened. It probably corresponds with the time of the Biblical Book of Exodus.

   • Greco-Roman:

     Mycenaean civilization

   • Ancient Near East:

     - Assyrians
     - Hittites
     - New Kingdom Egypt

   • Central/Eastern Asia:

     Vedic period in the Indus Valley.

   Offsite: Abbreviated Timelines For Earliest Civilizations

3. IRON AGE STARTS: 1000-500 B.C.

   Homer is thought to have written his epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. It is the time when Rome was founded. The Persians were expanding their empire in the eastern Mediterranean. It is thought this was the period of the famous Biblical kings, or at least Samuel, and later, the time of the Babylonian Captivity.

   • Greco-Roman:

     - Legendary Rome
     - Archaic Greece

   • Ancient Near East:

     - Assyria
     - Medes
     - Egyptian New Kingdom and Intermediate Period

   • Central/Eastern Asia:

     - Buddha
     - Chou Dynasty

   Offsite: Civilization 1

4. CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY STARTS: 500 B.C. - A.D. 1

   It was during this period that Greece flourished, fought the Persians, was conquered by the Macedonians, and later the Romans; the Romans got rid of their kings, established the Republican form of government and then started the rule by emperors. In the later years of this period, in Biblical History, the Seleucids were the monarchs under whom the Hasmonean and then the Herodian kings arose. The Maccabees were Hasomneans.

   • Greco-Roman:

     - Roman Republic
     - Classical Greece, Hellenistic Greece
     - Seleucids
     - Ptolemies

   • Ancient Near East:

     - Persian Empire
     - Parthians

   • Central/Eastern Asia:

     - Mauryan Empire
     - Eastern Chou, Warring States, Ch'in, and Han Periods.

   Offsite: Civilization 2

5. 1 - A.D. 500

   This was the first period in which Christianity became important, when the Romans suffered barbarian incursions, and declined. In Jewish history, this was the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt from Roman rule and the time of the writing of the Mishnah and Septuagint. It is the end of the ancient period and the beginning of the Medieval era.

   • Huns

   • Greco-Roman:

     - Roman Empire
     - Byzantine Empire

   • Ancient Near East:

     - Parthians
     - Sassanids

   • Central/Eastern Asia:

     - Gupta
     - Han Dynasty.

   Offsite: Civilization 3

References

• Ancient Chronology
• Hyperhistory